Growing ‘fungi’ spotted in Mars Curiosity Rover photos

Dr Regina Dass, of the Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, India, the study's co-author said: "There are no geological or other abiogenic forces on Earth which can produce sedimentary structures, by the hundreds, which have mushroom shapes, stems, stalks, and shed what looks like spores on the surrounding surface.

“In fact, fifteen specimens were photographed by NASA growing out of the ground in just three days."

Growing ‘FUNGI’ spotted in Mars Curiosity Rover photos

This is a confusing story. I think it is probable just click bait. I didn't see the Curiosity photos that show mushrooms growing out of the soil in a matter of days as is claimed by Dr Regina Dass.

The paper may not of been released yet and the photos may not of been released. I don't know. The Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews may be holding the article and images back to build up hype.

Not sure what is going on here. If anyone knows what photos they are talking about please post a link.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Interesting. The peer-reviewed paper is actually already available here, even though the Express doesn't mention it in their article. Below a sol 88 image taken by Opportunity with potential litchen like features:

Evidence of Life on Mars? R. Gabriel Joseph, Regina Dass, V. Rizzo, C. Cantasano, G. Bianciardi

We have presented a body of observations and evidence which supports the hypothesis Mars may have been, and may still be, a living planet. Although disagreements and differing interpretations and hypotheses abound, there is no factual, scientific evidence proving or even strongly supporting a purely abiotic explanation for the data and observations presented here which we believe favors biology. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

I'll be looking more into the details now but thanks a lot for sharing this article!

This may very well be true, but I wouldn't trust the express if it told me that the sun was going to come up tomorrow

originally posted by: jeep3r
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Interesting. The peer-reviewed paper is actually already available here, even though the Express doesn't mention it in their article. Below a sol 88 image taken by Opportunity with potential litchen like features:

Evidence of Life on Mars? R. Gabriel Joseph, Regina Dass, V. Rizzo, C. Cantasano, G. Bianciardi

We have presented a body of observations and evidence which supports the hypothesis Mars may have been, and may still be, a living planet. Although disagreements and differing interpretations and hypotheses abound, there is no factual, scientific evidence proving or even strongly supporting a purely abiotic explanation for the data and observations presented here which we believe favors biology. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

I'll be looking more into the details now but thanks a lot for sharing this article!

Good find jeep3r

Looks like they are talking about the Opportunity blueberry images not Curiosity like the story claims.





I will have read this too, thanks for finding it jeep3r!

originally posted by: maxey
This may very well be true, but I wouldn't trust the express if it told me that the sun was going to come up tomorrow

I hear you, that's why I was thinking it might just be click-bait. Looks like they did get the name of the rover wrong.

ETA - After a quick read there are some Curiosity images in the paper.

Figure 15. Sol 820. Green algae, stromatolites, microbial mats, or unusual abiotic sediments? Photographed by the Rover Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory Mars Hand Lens Imager which takes color images of features as small as 12.5 micrometers and at distances between 20 mm and infinity and having a depth of field of 1.6 mm to 2 mm.

Figure 17. Microanalyses of a Martian stromatolite (top) photographed by the Rover Curiosity (Sol 506) compared with a terrestrial stromatolite from Lagoa Salgada, Brazil (bottom). Highly organized microspherules and thrombolytic microfacies are common to both. Earthly Cyanobacteria typically form voids, intertwined filaments, and layer deformation within stromatolites. It is possible these formations were produced geologically in the absence of any biological influences.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Yes, I'm glad they're addressing the blueberries since I've also had my doubts about the concretion theory for obvious reasons. Interestingly, they actually theorize about extant life in their paper:

Figure 8. Sol 1145-left v Sol 1148-right). Comparing Sol 1145-left vs Sol 1148-right. Growth of fifteen Martian specimens over three days. Specimens labeled 1-5 and marked with red circles have increased in size. Those specified by arrows--Sol 1148-right--demarcate the emergence of ten new specimens which were not visible in Sol 1145-left photographed three days earlier by NASA/JPL. Differences in photo quality are secondary to changes in camera-closeup-focus by NASA. The majority of experts in fungi, lichens, geomorphology, and mineralogy agreed these are likely living specimens, i.e. fungi, puffballs. An alternate explanation is a strong wind uncovered hematite which had been buried beneath sand and dirt.

Source

If true, and it seems they're indeed comparing the same surface area, this would be quite intriguing. Could be a strong wind blow, as they indicate, uncovering more of these features below the sand.

But they're favoring actual growth and at least one of the features in the lower right corner (left image) could be a miniature version of the one in the right image, also note the protusion at 11 o'clock on that particular feature. Gotta dig deeper now and have a closer look at those sols.

I'm pretty sure that there is some kind of life on some other planets and moons in our solar system, it may not be like the life here, but that does not mean other forms don't exist. Those forms of life probably will not survive on this planet. Microbes might adapt here and cause problems because we might not have resistance to them. When they came back from the moon, I wonder if they brought anything back with them? A spore could last a real long time if dried out.

If this is realized as a litchen it probably would not be good to bring it back to earth without being very careful not to contaminate our ecosystem.

a reply to: rickymouse

The paper points out there is a good chance some of, or even all of what they think is life on Mars may have come from Earth.

Thanks for posting LookingAtMars, this could be the evidence of life; I would be surprised if there was no microbe life on mars.

Looking for confirmation now.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: rickymouse

The paper points out there is a good chance some of, or even all of what they think is life on Mars may have come from Earth.

We probably left it the last time we left SOL 3...

Fungi on Mars.

True.

Recent Mahli images from Curiosity show structures similar to the famous blueberries.

What caught my attention, were a few rocks that resemble barnacle shells. I have no doubt that it is entirely possible for life to exist on Mars, life similar to Earth life. What I don't believe, is that the USA will disclose that openly, before they absolutely have to.

As long as we are the only ones that know. We are the only ones who have the capability to study it. If something can be utilized to make a weapon for the military, we inherently have first dibs. No need to even let anyone else know about the possibility until those types of uses are ruled out.

a reply to: Archivalist

Funny you say that. I was working with these Mahli images from SOL 2356 today and they might be some of the ones you are talking about. One in the bottom image has a hole just like some blueberries do. The small almost perfectly round ones made me think of ooids.









You can see the full size images here on flickr.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars

Figure 15. Sol 820. Green algae, stromatolites, microbial mats, or unusual abiotic sediments? Photographed by the Rover Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory Mars Hand Lens Imager which takes color images of features as small as 12.5 micrometers and at distances between 20 mm and infinity and having a depth of field of 1.6 mm to 2 mm.

Funnily enough, there are no Sol 820 MAHLI images at mars.nasa.gov...
That image doesn't look like a MAHLI image, anyway, so there might be something fishy going on.

a reply to: wildespace

Okay, I'll take the bait. If there is something "fishy" going on, what is it,

Kind regards,

Bawly

a reply to: wildespace

I think you are right. You can't get false color like that from a MAHLI image, it looks like a MER image. I will have to go back and see if it is labeled wrong.

ETA - I believe the image should read - Figure 17. Microanalyses of a Martian stromatolite (top) photographed by the Rover Curiosity (Sol 506) compared with a terrestrial stromatolite from Lagoa Salgada, Brazil (bottom). Highly organized microspherules and thrombolytic microfacies are common to both. Earthly Cyanobacteria typically form voids, intertwined filaments, and layer deformation within stromatolites. It is possible these formations were produced geologically in the absence of any biological influences.

Looks like the descriptions of the 2 images are swapped around in the paper.

It still all looks electrical in nature to myself...

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: wildespace

I think you are right. You can't get false color like that from a MAHLI image, it looks like a MER image. I will have to go back and see if it is labeled wrong.

ETA - I believe the image should read - Figure 17. Microanalyses of a Martian stromatolite (top) photographed by the Rover Curiosity (Sol 506) compared with a terrestrial stromatolite from Lagoa Salgada, Brazil (bottom). Highly organized microspherules and thrombolytic microfacies are common to both. Earthly Cyanobacteria typically form voids, intertwined filaments, and layer deformation within stromatolites. It is possible these formations were produced geologically in the absence of any biological influences.

Looks like the descriptions of the 2 images are swapped around in the paper.

No, those two for Fig 17 seem to be correct. I found the MAHLI image for that pair: mars.nasa.gov...

The Fig 15 "MAHLI" image seems to be misrepresented, either erroneously or on purpose. Reverse-image searching on Google produced only one other occurance of this image, from a 2017 article/paper by Cosmology.com - brainmind.com...

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Thank You.
A long ,long time ago in a Galaxy
far,far, away, we were studying
Cryptogamic Botany.
Many samples of Lichen were taken
worldwide. For those that do not know,
Lichen is a symbiotic organism composed
of Algae,Fungi,and bacteria, and then some.

There was serious consideration that the seasonal
color
differences on the surface of Mars was due to the
behavior of these organisms.
Oxygen and Water would be absolutely necessary
for these speculations to hold merit.

The public data at the time provided no evidence
of either.

However, my instructors, all Doctorates,
appeared in silent agreement.

"Appeared" is speculative, but a wink and nod
holds weight in small circles.

I will always remember that,
but until now, have never mentioned it.
We are protected now.
You are on to something.


.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

too much consistency from all appointed photographs that presumably indicated life. Don't worry they don't tell

Weird that a claim with some scientific legitimacy gets mostly crickets, but most here are likely more into looking at the ruins from the nuke war, heh.

But baby steps, I guess...